Week 7
Experiment with wind sound:
A wind soundscape using a combination of omni-directional microphones and, for the first time, a contact microphone. The building walls offered shelter to mitigate the wind directly impacting on the microphones. The gaps in the stonework also helped to modulate the sound. Contact mics are activated by surface vibrations rather than air pressure waves used by traditional mics. The ruins had a number of discarded metal artifacts and so I was able to try a number of options for deploying the contact microphone: attached to a wire, an old pipe and a metal gate post. The sound clip is composed of 5 individual recordings: background wind, both as a drone and also modulated through the stonework; contact mic on a taut wire; contact mic inside a metal pipe and contact mic on a gate post. Edited and mixed in Adobe Premiere Pro.
I found that this approach has provided more texture, tone and variation to a wind recording which otherwise is less interesting. The end mix is more immersive while still sounding natural and part of the place. I can envisage how I might be able to add this to the water recording from week 5 and also add highlight sounds of wildlife as appropriate.
Screenshot of Adobe Premiere Pro edit illustrating the five sound tracks
Reflection
The pioneer of bioacoustics Bernie Krause, in addition to recording habitat biomes, produces natural soundscapes as works of standalone art. He advises recordists to consider a number of factors in deciding on their sound design (Krause, B, 2002):
Concept of time: ie a morning’s dawn chorus start to finish
Concept of space: ie moving from one location to another ie a walk or to follow the flow of water from a spring to the sea
Exploration: a record of the diverse sounds within a given area
Uniqueness: the recorder/artist editing and mixing the soundscape with that a style that becomes associated with his or her work. This is akin to mixing and sampling music.
I have found these tips to be interesting and help me to think beyond the technical challenges to the creative purpose of my exploration. While wishing to record a technically perfect clip of a bird singing I also want to create a narrative (see week 7) that conveys feeling and emotional connection for the listener.
Technical Note: the contact microphone used was a C-Series Pro, affordably, handmade by the sound artist Jez Riley French. It is highly sensitive and enveloped in needs to be attached to the vibrating surface (I used a simple clip) with an unique “acoustic transfer” coating. https://hydrophones.blogspot.com/2011/05/c-series-pro-contact-microphones-new.html
Reference
Krause, B. (2002) Wild Soundscapes: Discovering the Voice of the Natural World, US: Yale University Press.